Welcome to the Folger
Enjoy great stories | Explore what makes you curious | Share the best in art, history, and literature with friends and family at the world’s largest Shakespeare collection.
Opening June 21: New exhibition galleries, café, and shop
What’s on
Join us for in-person and virtual events: theater, poetry, music, and more.
Metamorphoses
DC & Me: Community Stories from Anacostia
Folger Book Club: The Latinist
Scholar Talk: Metamorphoses
Sneak Peek of the "New" Folger Shakespeare Library
Imprints in Time
Into the Vault: Books of the 1620s
News and announcements
Folger Shakespeare Library Names Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper as Director
Press release: May 20, 2024
About us
How did the world’s largest Shakespeare collection end up one block from the US Capitol? Explore the Folger’s origin story.
The latest from our blogs and podcast
A memorable Macbeth: Setting the Scottish play in 19th-century Haiti
Read about the 1936 “voodoo Macbeth” in this excerpt from The Playbook: A Story of Theater, Democracy, and the Making of a Culture War by James Shapiro.
“Without much shame retold”: Shakespeare’s sources transformed
Austin Tichenor on how Shakespeare drew from the classics, history texts, folk tales, contemporary politics, and more.
'The Latinist' Resource Guide
To prepare for our June 6 virtual book club discussion, explore resources related to Shakespeare, Ovid, and mythology.
Folger Mysteries (formerly known as "What manner o' thing is your crocodile"): May 2024
Try your hand at solving this month’s Folger Mystery.
How do Shakespeare’s characters react when they lose family or love?
Stephen Greenblatt explores this question in this excerpt from Second Chances: Shakespeare and Freud, a book co-authored with Adam Phillips.
Second Chances, Shakespeare, and Freud, with Adam Phillips and Stephen Greenblatt
Lots of Shakespeare’s characters long for second chances. That desire is also at the heart of Freudian psychotherapy, Stephen Greenblatt and Adam Phillips tell us.
Our collection
The First Folio
The Folger has the world’s largest collection of First Folios. Learn more about the book that gave us Shakespeare.
A majestic portrait
The Folger collection includes about 200 paintings. This portrait of Queen Elizabeth I by George Gower is dated 1579, making it the oldest painting in our collection. Two years after he completed this portrait, Gower became Serjeant Painter to the Queen, making him the most important artist in England.
Our other Elizabeth I holdings include hand-signed letters, books, and even New Year’s gift rolls detailing her holiday gifts. It is the largest collection of Elizabeth I materials in North America.
Shakespeare’s works
View the full list of plays and poems to read, search, and download our bestselling editions of Shakespeare’s works.
Shakespeare’s most popular plays
Explore
What was Shakespeare's theater like?
Learn about the Globe and other London playhouses where Shakespeare’s company performed. What was it like to be an actor there, or an audience member?
Teach
How can Shakespeare help 21st-century students be stronger readers?
Our Folger Method is revolutionizing how not just Shakespeare but all literature is taught using strategies that allow all students to own – and enjoy – complex texts.
Research
If we are what we eat, what can recipes from the past tell us?
Projects like Before ‘Farm to Table’ unite scholars and practitioners in investigations into the past to shed light on what matters to us today.
Support the things you love
Your gifts make access to our collection, learning opportunities, and exciting experiences happen.